A recently released report from the New York State Inspector General details a relationship between former governor Andrew Cuomo’s daughter and a State Trooper, as well as how the State Police handled the situation.
In May 2020, trooper Dane Pfeiffer revealed in an interview with the protective services unit and the professional standard's bureau, that he was involved in a relationship with one of then-governor Cuomo’s daughters.
Pfeiffer told one of his supervisors about the relationship weeks before, but that supervisor didn't report it, and later retired.
Pfeiffer was serving in the protective services unit, responsible for protecting the governor and his family.
Supervisors decided Pfeiffer would be transferred from the unit, applying to a unit in Plattsburgh.
It turned out, Cuomo’s daughter told him of the relationship the day before Pfeiffer was interviewed about it.
The Inspector General's report goes on to detail the failures in properly reporting the conduct concerns surrounding the relationship, thought it ultimately did not violate any rules.
The IG recommends State Police and its standards bureau be consistent in following established procedures for investigating and documenting personnel complaints. It also recommends the agency either use current policies to prohibit future relationships between protective services members and their protected-- or create new policies to do so.
News of Pfeiffer’s relationship with Cuomo’s daughter broke at the height of other scandals surrounding the former governor, including sexual harassment allegations and his handling of COVID in nursing homes.
The fact that the trooper was transferred out of the governor's security detail was then presumed to be a retaliatory action from Cuomo.
The report instead indicates the relationship was inappropriate based on state police policies-- but the case was not handled properly.
A statement from the New York State Troopers Police Benevolent Association, they stand by Trooper Pfeiffer’s actions, and accused the IG of cherry-picking rules and regulations to “buttress their predetermined results of their investigation. "
"I am speechless at the Inspector General’s report,” said NYSTPBA President Thomas H. Mungeer. "Our Trooper is being used as a political pawn for a power grab by the Inspector General to assert her undue influence on the New York State Police. I stand by the decisions made by Superintendent Kevin Bruen and have full faith in his leadership of the State Police."